MediEvil (PlayStation 4) Review

Sir Daniel Fortesque is resurrected all over gain.

A classic and iconic PS One title which released back in 1998 has been given the remastered treatment and now released for the current gen; PlayStation 4.

A tale of a hero that saved the lands against an epic battle against an evil Sorcerer called Zordak who raised an army of the undead in order to reign supreme.

Although he died in battle (ummm… right at the very start of the battle infact) Fortesque led the charge and took an arrow in his eye for his efforts.

Still as a hundred years passed he was remembered as the hero that saved the town of Gallowmere – even having a cemetery named after him.

This was not to be the end of Zordak however, nope, you can’t keep a good Sorcerer down, apparently.

Even though his first attempt of having a legion of zombies failed he’s keen to give it another try.

As Zordak wields his vibrant green magic once again, the dead rise up, including Fortesque.

MediEvil is a third person action platformer, that in it’s original release heralded the almost open world exploratory gameplay.

There are many hidden items and locations and MediEvil, both past and present has a lowkey RPG element.

You assume the role of Fortesque, the hero (I say that loosely) as he reawakens and continues his rise up against Zordak. But Sir Daniel needs to prove his heroism aswell, redeem himself in the eyes of the real heroes that know the truth of his untimely demise.

You will face off in melee combat against both environmental hazards aswell as differing types of undead nasties.

You are aided by a sprite. This will pin point areas of interest for you and circle an enemy. You can also focus on enemies to make the melee just that little bit easier.

Weaponry varies from projectiles through to swords, clubs and more. Each with it’s advantages and disadvantages. There’s also shields and yep you’ll most definitely need that.

Differing grades of weapons will last longer or shorter timeframes, depending on use and may have more than one purpose.

You can have two weapons assigned at one time. Throwables and close combat. Switching between the two is assigned to a key on the DualShock4 controller.

Other in-game goodies are gold, which can be used at Gargoyle merchants for supplies and items, souls from those that you conquer which eventually tally up to fill a chalice that you will present to a fallen hero in the Hall of Heroes who will have a reward awaiting you.

If you were a PlayStation gamer back in the late 90s no doubt you will remember this game – and likely it’s sequel too.

The remastered version has this current gens graphics, but essentially gameplay is exactly the same as the original.

While we no longer need to swap out Memory Cards or fear of filling up our 4MB of space on it newcomers to the series might get a little miffed at the fact that when you die, and you will, the entire Level that you were on restarts.

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Not quite perma-death, but close. Frustrating if you were on a tricky Level, made it passed some super hard bits and are all out of Health Vials and no Health fountain in sight, then get slapped by a zombie which takes you out.

This was annoying back in the day, and still is, so perseverance is key to playing MediEvil.

Each Level, which you navigate to via a mini map, is completely and painstakingly re-detailed from the original PS One Classic.

The tale of Sir Daniel Fortesque is a timeless one and one that needed to be retold to a new generation of gamers.

It’s a must play – or a must replay if you managed to redeem Fortesque back in 1998.

Sir Daniel Fortesque’s reputation is in your hands.

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